irrlicht world layer

odc · Post by **odc** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 6:54 pm

Hi!

Just wondering if anybody thought about an extra layer on top of irrlicht which manages an virtual (game) world and lets irrlicht draw it? Irrlicht is an graphics engine and thus is best at rendering the scene and to some extend managing it. Every project using the engine will have to reinvent the wheel which is ofcourse not a good thing. It would save a whole lot of development time if such an top level layer would exist.

I came up with some features which i think have to be in the layer:

* World loading (XML format? maybe even an streaming option?)
* Manage entities
* Physics (no external libs!)
* Scripting (probably with LUA)
* Networking
* SFX & Music

If anybody is interested in this idea or wish to add some features such an layer can't mis, please reply. I'll start designing the layer this weekend so please hurry if you want something in it

niko · Post by **niko** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 9:06 am

I have nothing to add, but just want to say that it is a nice idea, and I'm looking forward to see something like this.

odc · Post by **odc** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 11:28 am

forgot one very important task of the layer, AI

Happy · Post by **Happy** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:41 pm

What about an in game console?

I too am looking for something like this. i have looked a lot at crystal space and crystal clear but they seem monstrously large and slow too.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 5:19 pm

Exactly! All those libs are really to large IMHO

I'm planning to keep the layer lightweight, and ofcourse fast, but easy to extend so it can be used for any type of project.

And an in game console is a good idea! thanks

odc · Post by **odc** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 5:20 pm

sorry, that guest post was me

Caecus · Post by **Caecus** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 12:48 am

I have a project like this that I work on from time to time, unfortunately i dont have alot of time right now.

odc · Post by **odc** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 6:47 am

Do you got some details about your project? Design documents, class diagrams etc ... ?

I started writing the design document last night and i thinks it's going to be really cool but can always use some new idea's.

Caecus · Post by **Caecus** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 10:40 pm

I have a small out of date class diagram... ill post it for some criqueing.

Caecus · Post by **Caecus** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 12:18 am

http://www33.brinkster.com/ranin/diagram.htm

It's rather out of date and not irrlicht focused at the time. In fact I'm still trying to isolate irrlicht as much as possible from the rest of the project. Not because I don't like it, but because from a design perspective I'd like to be able to plug in my own graphics engine if I ever get around to making one (yea right).

Also this is prolly heavier than what most people would want in a game layer. My project is designed so that you'd be able to create several types of games strictly via scripting and minor extensions to code.

odc · Post by **odc** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 9:07 am

cool, thanks for the post!

its a bit like i thought about it only i don't want to make a difference in my layer between for example a bsp model and a terrain model. In IrrLicht they are rendered differently, but in the virtual world they are both just entities IMO.

i'll try to finish the design this weekend and post them here. Really interested what you think of it.

Irrlicht Engine

irrlicht world layer

irrlicht world layer

AI?